The St. Louis Blues were looking to keep the momentum they gained from a win over Vegas going. The Chicago Blackhawks proved a little more difficult this time around.
The St. Louis Blues had made a habit of getting off to slow starts in so many games in the 2019-20 season, you began to think it was part of their game plan. That was not a part of the pregame speech prior to the team’s 34th game against Chicago.
The Blues jumped right on the Blackhawks and it felt like the Note never left the offensive zone. They created 25 offensive chances in the first period alone.
Unfortunately, the Blues could not crack the Chicago net. Despite all their chances, the Blackhawks might have actually come the closest to scoring since they rang one off the crossbar.
That was somewhat of a harbinger of things to come. The Blues allowed Chicago to have their first shift in the offensive zone and they would capitalize.
Chicago got the first goal of the game on a seeing eye shot that went in cleanly. Normally it would have been an easy save, but there was enough of a screen to allow it to sneak in.
St. Louis never found their game again in the second period. There was a lot of sloppy play and though the Blues created a few chances, they were their own worst enemy.
Things did not get much better in the third. For the second straight period, the Blues allowed a goal in the first minute as the Hawks claimed a two goal lead.
Less than three minutes after that, the Blackhawks were up by three as the hated Patrick Kane took advantage of a turnover. The three goal lead lasted less than 30 seconds, but with the Blues still down 3-1 it was going to be an uphill climb.
As we have seen over the last two seasons, the Blues are more than up to those climbs. St. Louis finally put their dominance onto the scoreboard in the third period.
In the final 13 minutes, St. Louis would rattle off four unanswered goals. It was a crazy last half of the third period and came when the Blues seemed on the brink of being completely out of it. It was a reminder why you can never give up on this team. St. Louis won 4-3
Cons: Crawford being hot
For quite some time, I have put Corey Crawford in the overrated category. I never believed he was one of the elite goaltenders in the league. He won mainly because of the team in front of him, ala Chris Osgood.
In the first period, he shoved those words back in my face. Crawford was the only reason the Blues failed to get on the board.
St. Louis did their usual thing of shooting right at the goaltender a few times. Nevertheless, Crawford made some quality saves.
Crawford was well positioned on pucks he might not have seen cleanly. He stopped a Vince Dunn shot that was tipped on the way through and seemed destined to go through the five hole.
Crawford also stopped Ryan O’Reilly on a wraparound. That might not be all that impressive in print, but he was without his goal stick and the Blues were unable to capitalize.
The worry with this was the Blues running into another hot goaltender. It seems like regardless of what their stats are coming into the game, the Blues always get the hot goaltender.
Despite getting dominated the last time out, Crawford came into this game as a dominant force – at least early on.
Cons: Sloppy second
The Blues were pretty dominant in the first period. Things fell apart, somewhat, in the second period.
In fact, it took a turn for the worse pretty quickly in the second. Chicago managed to score just 19 seconds into the period on a somewhat odd goal.
There were defenders converging on Brandon Saad, forcing him to just push it toward goal as opposed to a real shot. There was almost no room for that puck to get through either. However, the thing went in and Chicago claimed the lead.
Maybe Jordan Binnington could have done better, but he was partially screened and it was just a seeing eye shot. Regardless of that, the team play just was not where it needed to be.
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St. Louis took too many penalties. The Blues took three penalties and all were costly with the exception of allowing a goal.
The Blues took another too many men penalty, this one coming as the Blues were four-on-four and trying to stay in the offensive zone. The penalty that made it four-on-four was one that negated a Blues power play.
St. Louis just looked somewhat disjointed in the second period. They have been solid on odd-man rushes lately, but Ivan Barbashev put too much on a pass to Oskar Sundqvist that might have led to a shorthanded goal.
Even with all that messiness, the Blues only trailed by one after 40 minutes. Unfortunately, that would not last long.
Pros: Robert Thomas
Normally the pros and cons are intertwined in these pieces. However, singling out Robert Thomas seemed a fool’s errand for awhile as the Blues were getting stomped.
However, in addition to playing a solid game from the start, Thomas was a big reason the Blues got back into this game. He was doing all the little things, in addition to putting points on his ledger.
Tyler Bozak does deserve credit. He finished off both goals set up by Thomas. However, it was not just the assists that give Thomas the nod.
Prior to the first goal, Thomas made a key steal as he came through the slot to pick off a poor pass. After that, he hit Bozak with a spectacular pass.
It seemed like nothing but consolation. Instead, Thomas and Bozak would combine for another goal. Again, Thomas would make a great, off-balance pass.
Beyond that, Thomas was just showcasing his abilities. In the offensive zone, in the third period, Thomas probably reversed away from pressure three or four times. It bought the Blues time since nobody was open for him to pass to.
Just when you thought his night was capped off, he set up the game winning goal as well. This one was not quite as flashy, but it was still skillful.
Thomas found Justin Faulk across the seam with a pinpoint pass. Faulk finished it off and gave the Blues a one-goal lead.
With trade rumors in the wind, this was the perfect game for Thomas to have to prove he’s worth more to the Blues.
Pros: Not giving up
As fans, we almost don’t know how not to give up. Sure, there are those out there that claim they always believe and more power to them. This game just had that smell that no matter how well the Blues had played, they were not going to be able to get it done.
Instead, the Blues just kept plugging away. Once they finally found their game again in the third period, they got the Blackhawks to crack and once that happened, the floodgates opened. Perhaps we should have known it was possible just because Boston did the same thing to Chicago just a few games prior.
Still, scoring four goals in one period is not something you usually expect regardless of how talented the Blues are. They always find ways to impress.
Thomas was fantastic. He picked up three huge assists.
Faulk picked up his second goal of the season and it was clearly a huge one in this game, proving to be a game winner. His first was fortunate, but this was a goal scorer’s goal, so maybe he will finally click on the offensive end.
Jacob de la Rose scored his first in a Blues uniform. It was also a big goal as it tied the game.
All this was important, not really because of the rivalry, but because it ended things in regulation. The Blues did not have to rely on the coin toss of overtime or the awful shootout.
A huge 12-13 minutes.
Overview
For the first time since November 4, 2015 the Blues managed to come from behind and win after trailing by three goals. Poetically, that was the #RoarBacon game against the Blackhawks.
As mentioned, this game seemed like it was going the wrong way. The Blues were the better team for the majority and created plenty of chances, but were coming up empty handed.
Crawford was a wall for 3/4 of this game. The Blues were making enough mistakes to allow the Blackhawks to capitalize on.
Once Chicago scored the third goal, it felt like the night was done. That is not even saying the Blues were incapable of coming back, but nothing had gone their way in the bounce category and that can be just as important as how a team is playing.
However, the pendulum of momentum can swing quickly and it did. Four unanswered goals in under 13 minutes is amazing.
The only thing that could have made this better was Ryan O’Reilly scoring since he has yet to score at the Enterprise Center in 2019-20. Nothing wrong with how it all transpired though.
The Blues jumped back to the top of the conference, even if only by a point. Their next game will come against the Colorado Avalanche, who are the team breathing down their neck.